Brave Youth Blog: HELEN WONG

As a parallel project to the 8th edition of Brave Kids, Brave Youth 2017 offers former Brave Kids participants the opportunity to experience the beauty of Brave Kids one more time. In this way, we hope to give continuity to the learning process that was initiated years before. Our plan is to bring back to Poland young people who participated in the Brave Kids project as children and have now grown to become young adults who continue supporting their communities through art or in any other way and contribute to other people’s growth. Young people who are now too old for Brave Kids participation can keep the positive energy of Brave Kids and have a chance for an international experience with peers one more time. Our goal is to make a change in the lives of both Brave Kids and Brave Youth by providing them with an opportunity for cultivating discovery, personal growth, leadership, teamwork, and compassion.

We will invite 4 young people aged 18-23 from different countries to take part in Brave Youth from 17.06.2017 to 11.07.2017. We want to directly connect Brave Kids participants with Brave Youth so they can inspire each other. We believe that by sharing the example of the work that Brave Youth do in their local environment, Brave Kids will be inspired to try to do the same in the future. Brave Youth will also have the opportunity to engage in the artistic elements of Brave Kids alongside professional artistic instructors so they can increase their artistic skills. They will stay close to Brave Kids participants assisting artistic instructors as volunteers. Staying with Polish host families will allow participants of Brave Youth and local families to gain an inside look into other cultures and traditions. During the program participants will also have chance to present their work in the local communities.

Helen Wong Chau Yi

Age: 20

Nationality: Hong Kong

Brave Kids Edition: 2013 (Poznan)

Helen is studying for a BA (Translation and Linguistics) at The University of Hong Kong(HKU). She represented Hong Kong in the 2013 Edition of Brave Kids. Helen is also anactive volunteer of Centre of Development and Resources for Students, CEDARS, HKU.

Why do you want to participate in Brave Youth?
I felt extremely fulfilled participating Brave Kids 2013. It was such a life-changing event. I have developed strong and lasting bonding with other kids from different countries around the world. This international art exchange experience has deepened my knowledge of foreign cultures in a way that books can never reveal. My fellow friends, regardless of race, age and cultural background demonstrated their strong wills to overcome the difficulties that life and circumstances have put in their ways. This invigorated me to volunteer myself in helping Hong Kong’s communities. Now, It’s my turn to make contribution to Brave Kids. I want to offer my support to the 8th edition of Brave Kids. Brave Youth will not only give me inspiration and confidence to continue my services in different communities, but it will also provide me a chance to discover new aspects of myself through art and cultural exchange among participants.

What changes have you made in your community?
As the external vice president of Linguistics Society, I was involved in holding a series of functions to introduce Linguistics to HKU students. This is critical to our society because language is the medium of culture. The decline of Cantonese is a warning to Hongkongers that we should preserve our mother tongue. Cantonese song lyrics were introduced in different linguistics aspects, emphasizing Cantonese is not inferior than Mandarin. The feedback I received is exhilarating, the attitude of HKU students towards Cantonese is positive. I wish what I have done and what I am doing can help Hong Kong people become more and more united. I participated as a volunteer in the project “Joy to Live”, many underprivileged families who are living in subdivided flats received help from the centre and their living conditions are improved significantly.

Helen in Brave Kids – 2013

What makes a good leader in your opinion? And why?
Good communication skills and patience. Good communication skills are essential for a great leader. The best leaders need to be able to communicate clearly with the people around them so that the team can work efficiently. They also need to be able to interpret other people properly and not take what they say personally. Boss exhibits hierarchies while leaders understand the importance of collaboration. Therefore, good leaders are always those who listen and give feedback instead of giving commands. To err is human, good leaders accept flaws and remain patient when dealing with problems. The path to success is always tough, good leaders can always demonstrate their commitment to their work and never give up.

What would be for you the ideal profession?
I want to be a Speech therapist, provide services especially for special education need students in Hong Kong.

Words for the Brave Kids
Never lose hope. As a Chinese proverb goes “upon coming to the end of water stream, I would sit down to behold white clouds rise”.